Getting Into Character

Last night, I wrote about how following the Gospel can be as simple as following the example of the Savior, but how can we do that? How can we know exactly what Jesus would do in any given situation, or more specifically, ours? The answer (or at least one answer) is to follow a role-playing/acting technique called getting into character.

Anyone can read a script and do exactly what the script says the character does, but good actors read between the lines to find out why the character does what they do, to figure out how the character feels, and to learn about the character's personality. Once you know the personality of the character you're acting or role-playing as, you don't have to memorize exactly what they do; you can just sort of feel it. This is what is meant by "getting into character."

So, how can we "get into" the character of Jesus Christ? With other characters, actors and role-players get into them by becoming familiar with, and then adopting, their personality traits. The actors would study how their characters act and talk, until the could talk and act that way themselves. We've all read and heard stories about Jesus. Many of us have also seen films and/or videos that have Jesus as a main character. Many of us, if we really concentrate, can almost picture Him walking around, interacting with others, saying what He would say and doing what He would do. In order to get into the character of Jesus Christ, we should spend some time studying His behavior, as portrayed by the scriptures and good movies about Him, until we become familiar enough with Him and how He acts that we can clearly picture Him in our minds and begin to mimic that behavior.

Becoming like Jesus Christ isn't easy, and sometimes you have to fake it until you make it, but the more familiar we are with Him and His personality, and the more we try to follow in His footsteps, the more like Him we will become, and the easier it'll become for us to act like Him. The better we get at getting into the character of Jesus Christ, the more natural it'll be for us to keep the commandments, which will help us have the Spirit of Christ with us, which will give us more help in knowing how to act. I still wouldn't say that it'll ever become easy, but it is simple, and it can become natural. We probably won't manage to become perfect in this lifetime, but with a bit of study and practice, we can learn to act, and even become, more like Jesus Christ.